01-29-2020, 02:26 PM
After the double gut-punch versus USC and Cal, the Stanford men will attempt to retreat from the metaphorical cliff versus the Oregon schools this week. First up is OSU on Thursday. In conference play, the Beavers are 2-6 (11th place at the moment), but more importantly they are 2-4 away from home/neutral courts with wins versus Wyoming and Colorado and losses to Texas A&M, Utah, UW and WSU. They are currently suffering through a four-game losing streak at the hands of the Washington and SoCal schools.
Oregon is the best team in the Pac-12. However, they are only 3-2 in true road games with wins versus Michigan, Utah and UW and losses to Colorado and WSU.
My take: a home sweep would return us to safe ground (and probably first place in conference), a split would keep us near cliff's edge, and losing both games would plunge us into the abyss. Next week we travel to the mountain schools and the week after that we have the Arizona schools at home. Maybe it's an overreaction on my part, but the next two games feel like they will determine the course of the rest of the season.
Oregon is the best team in the Pac-12. However, they are only 3-2 in true road games with wins versus Michigan, Utah and UW and losses to Colorado and WSU.
My take: a home sweep would return us to safe ground (and probably first place in conference), a split would keep us near cliff's edge, and losing both games would plunge us into the abyss. Next week we travel to the mountain schools and the week after that we have the Arizona schools at home. Maybe it's an overreaction on my part, but the next two games feel like they will determine the course of the rest of the season.
If there's one thing people have learned in Berkeley, it's that you can't put "Cal football" and "Rose Bowl" in the same sentence. The words just don't fit. You'd be better off linking "covered wagons" with "Mars travel." (Bruce Jenkins, Cal '70, SF Chronicle, Nov. 11, 2017)